Ernest G Green

To those who have seen "The Ernest Green Story" on television's Disney Channel, he is a heroic figure--the remarkably courageous young man who helped integrate Little Rock's Central High School in the mid-1950s. But to Justice Department and congressional investigators probing Democratic fund-raising practices, Ernest G. Green is viewed as an increasingly important link in alleged efforts by China to influence President Clinton.

To those who have seen "The Ernest Green Story" on television's Disney Channel, he is a heroic figure--the remarkably courageous young man who helped integrate Little Rock's Central High School in the mid-1950s. But to Justice Department and congressional investigators probing Democratic fund-raising practices, Ernest G. Green is viewed as an increasingly important link in alleged efforts by China to influence President Clinton.

They circled the Wal-Mart shipping trailers Friday for President Clinton's homecoming--his first post-election trip beyond Washington's Beltway. "This is where I started," he reflected. The president flew to Arkansas, where he attended an airport dedication, after stoking more home state memories in a White House ceremony with the "Little Rock Nine"--the black students who integrated Central High School in 1957.

A Chinese business executive who attended a controversial White House coffee for political contributors hosted by President Clinton last year said his visit was arranged by the New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers Inc., which was competing with other American firms to do business with China.

Early on the morning of Feb. 6, 1996, Democratic fund-raiser Ernest G. Green delivered a $50,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee. A few hours later, he met with Chinese industrialist Wang Jun, with whom he hoped to do business in his role as a managing director of the Lehman Brothers investment bank. And only a few hours after that, Wang Jun--one of China's biggest arms exporters--was inside the White House, sipping coffee with President Clinton.

Four decades after their bid to enter an all-white school sparked the most volatile state-federal conflict since the Civil War, nine middle-aged black men and women scaled the steps of Little Rock Central High once again Thursday. But unlike the day in 1957 when the "Little Rock Nine" were greeted by a hostile, spitting mob outside the school, the mayor, governor--and president of the United States--showed up to welcome them as heroes.

It has been almost 30 years since Dwight David Eisenhower left public office in January, 1961. And it has been more than 20 years since he died, in 1969. But for hundreds who gathered at Washington's Kennedy Center Sunday night to celebrate his 100th birthday, the years haven't changed the way they feel about the country's 34th President. "There is no doubt about it," said Charles Percy, the former Illinois senator, echoing the famous campaign slogan: "We like Ike."

The House investigation into questionable campaign fund-raising found itself Thursday night without a budget--at least temporarily--as an odd coalition of lawmakers joined to derail a GOP plan to spend millions of dollars investigating the Clinton administration's political activities.